Caroline closer to fracking ban

Hearing set for Aug. 16

Jul. 29, 2012

Barber

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Public comments

Written comments concerning the law can be sent by mail to the Town Clerk or by e-mail to clerk@townofcaroline.org. At the public hearing, residents will be limited to three minutes in which to make their oral comments.

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CAROLINE — Gas drilling could soon be banned outright in the Town of Caroline as only a public comment period and town board vote stands in the way of a bill outlawing the contentious practice within the town’s limits.

After months crafting a law prohibiting the exploration and extraction of natural gas — and notably the method known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking — the town board will hold a public hearing on the proposed law at 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at the Brooktondale Community Center.

Caroline Town Supervisor Don Barber said that without the law gas exploration would assuredly happen in the rural community, and that a town ban is the only effective way to keep fracking from taking place.

He noted that federal and state governments have indicated a willingness to allow shale fracturing, and that individual municipalities, using the rights of home rule, must decide whether they want gas drilling to occur locally.

“Town Boards are the last and only place for the civil society to determine whether or not it wants gas exploration and extraction to occur in its neighborhoods,” Barber said.

Federal action to exempt the high-volume, hydrofracking process used to extract natural gas from shale formations and an indication that New York will issue gas drilling permits where the Marcellus shale is more than 2,000 feet below the surface, would make Caroline properties an option for gas exploration, according to Barber. Only by banning the practice can the community keep gas companies out, he said, but he noted that the bill allows for hardship exemptions where residents and gas companies can appeal for a dispensation from the law.

The board adopted a one-year moratorium March 13 on gas drilling in the town, setting the stage for the legal framework of an outright ban. The board held three public meetings since enacting the moratorium as town board members discussed the possibility and language of a ban.

“It’s our job to listen to the public and we have been reaching out to ask for feedback all along,” Barber said. “The public hearing will be the real opportunity for people to weigh in and tell us how they feel about this whole process.”

In elections held last year, Caroline voters replaced two board members open to the idea of gas exploration in favor of two vocal critics of fracking and the risks they say it poses to drinking water, the town infrastructure and rural nature of the community.

The newly elected members — Aaron Snow and Irene Weiser — joined Barber and Dominic Frongillo in opposition to gas exploration. Linda Adams has been the lone holdout on the board.